These emails have been so infrequent because we’ve been SO busy. Having a car makes you want to see and do everything while you have the opportunity and this we have done. This past week with the kids in Tuscany has truly been amazingly wonderful. But let me pick up where I left off after the day in Pisa.
The next day, Thursday we headed off to Genova for the day. We just got on the autostrada and got ourselves there and then spent the rest of the day exploring the streets of Genova. What a great city! Reminiscent of Naples in that it is centred around a thriving port and a city that has seen the splendour of the seafaring heyday. But Genova has an elegant side with beautiful old palazzos lining the streets in the upper town. You can just imagine the ancient splendour. It also has a seedy/ edgy side to it like Naples. So full of life and people and activity and decay. A large immigrant population adds to the life of the city. We all loved it. We went and had a great lunch…full of the pesto that originated in Genova and (for me) the fish! Then we wandered around the tiny, winding streets of the old port town. We walked up to the more elegant area with all the palazzos that lined the streets and once buzzed with life. We went into Palazzo Reale that is now a museum with the opulence of the times on display. Totally gorgeous really. To the Duomo, a quick aperitivo, then finally back to the car and home to Lucca. Home late to Lucca and then out to find a Pizza for dinner. A big day!
Friday we retraced our steps almost to Genova but turned off to explore the Italian Riviera and get an injection of the world of the rich and famous. First to Rapallo with its old, decaying seaside mansions, castle on the water and lovely water front promenade. Then on to Santa Margherita where we had lunch, wandered around a bit to take in the sites and then on to Portofino…the jewel in the crown of the Italian Riviera. It is so beautiful, it really is. It still has the air of a small, beautiful fishing village despite the obvious presence of the rich and famous with the amazing yachts and the expensive restaurants. For all this it doesn’t seem to lose its charm. We had THE most delicious gelati there and sat by the waterfront in the sun. It was really lovely. Then home again, back along the windy cliff edge road. Back in Lucca we had dinner at Ristorante All’Olivio where Rose and I had been before H&A arrived in Lucca. It was a splendid meal. In fact I think I had the best meal I’ve had in Italy. It was heaven. A beautiful fresh pasta with tomato and superb mozzarella- type cheese, followed by the most divine pigeon you could ever imagine. It was so tender and so delicious. I was ecstatic. Then my desert was to die for…a pannacotta- type thing with an orange sauce. Impossible to describe!
Saturday. Ham and Ariane’s last day in Tuscany and what better way to spend it than touring around the Chianti area with wine tastings and a lovely lunch at a futuristic winery…Antinori nel Chianti Classico. It was a most beautiful day really. It was sunny and warm and the drive was just too beautiful for words. We went to Castello di Verrazano to taste their wines (and buy a couple of bottles), then on to enjoy a lovely lunch with local wines, then drove some more through vineyards, olive trees, castellos and ancient hilltop villages before going to Volpaia, Radda in Chianti for another tasting (and purchasing) and then home. A Glorious day really.
For their last night in Tuscany Ham and Ariane had their choice of restaurants to go to for dinner which very predictably saw us back at the best of the best, Ristorante Giglio for our magnificent Last Supper. Again the first dish is always wonderfully fresh pasta and then Ham and Ariane shared a Bistecca- about a kilo of the most tender and tasty meat you could wish for. Ham particularly really got into it demolishing the massive T-bone! Rose and I were marginally more delicate but definitely not left behind with Veal cheek and pork. We won’t go into the amazing desert of semi-freddo ice-cream with crackly chocolate sauce…oh my god!!!
This morning was very sombre for the mumma. We got up, got organised, walked to the car park with H&A getting a coffee on the way and then had to sadly wave them off to Pisa for them to catch the plane back to London. What a lovely, lovely time it has been. I’m so lucky to have a few more days with Rose here in Lucca but already the end is nearing and I will so hate to see such a lovely time come to an end. But before it does we will make the most of what is left. Rose and I laundromatted, aperitivo’d, lunched and went to the Torture Museum for the rest of our day. We’re now resting before we aperitivo again and then decide what to do for dinner. A happy Mumma for another few days!!